Bokkun POV:
Man, I didn't mean to make dad feel that way. But at least he's giving it thought. Though I hope he says yes. No one really wanted to talk, I noticed. Easy to understand after the talk we had back at the club. Maybe I should try saying something. "Uh, dad." I said, trying to find words. "Your face is awfully red. What's wrong?" Rouge looked over to Knuckles, who was staring at her. He wasn't looking up at her face though. "You like it?" Mom asked in a slightly seductive tone. Dad didn't say anything though, but mom gave him a slightly aggravated look. "Gah! Yes, I do! Ok?" Dad finally cracked, blushing even more. "Aww, you didn't have to admit it." Mom said. "But you were giving me that look!" Dad retorted. "Shut it!" Mom whispered at him aggressively. Are women always like this? We all stopped upon finally reaching our destination. "Emerald Coast!" I shouted with excitement. "C'mon, let's go!". I immediately ran towards the water. I was about to jump in, but both mom and dad grabbed a hold of me. "Are you sure you're waterproof?" Mom had asked me. I… can't remember actually. I just shook my head and decided to go and make a sand castle. Mom and dad decided to just lounge at some of the reclining chairs. I'm gonna make the biggest sand castle I can.
Rouge POV:
"So Knuckles, I have to ask… what have these past few days been like for you?" I asked Knuckles sincerely. Knuckles sat up and sighed before giving his answer. "Honestly, these have been some of the best days of my life! And I can only see it getting even better from here." He said to me while holding my hand. My face started to turn a little red. We looked each other in the eyes, our faces coming closer to one another. Our lips were about to lock until… "Hey! You're one of Eggman's robots!" Shouted a human accompanied by other humans. "You're pretty stupid, thinking you can show your face around here!" Mocked a woman. One of the humans walked up and kicked Bokkun's sand castle. Bokkun looked a bit uncomfortable, unsure of what to do. Well I wasn't going to just stand and watch this happen! I got up out of my seat and marched right between them. Knuckles also came to stand up for Bokkun, which made me very happy. Maybe he finally is coming around to this whole family thing. "If you have something to say… you can run it by us first." Knuckles said as he cracked his... well… knuckles. The humans started to back away a bit, but immediately ran away in terror. Damn, did we really scare them that much? Honestly, I highly doubted it. We heard what sounded like a bubbling behind us. I slowly turned around to see… Chaos. He just stood there, staring at us for a moment. I was practically frozen. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. "Chaos?" Knuckles said, more confused than afraid. "What're you doing outside of the Master Emerald?" Chaos began to make bubbling sounds. I can't believe this thing used to be a Chao. "Ah." Knuckles said. Wait, he can understand him? "He said he came here to try and socialize with people here at the beach, but it hasn't been going well." Gee, I wonder why. I mean it's not like he drowned this city once. Thank God Sally and the rest of her group had gotten the residents to higher ground. It's a miracle nobody was killed that day. Bokkun then walked up to Chaos and pulled out some of the photos we took at the temple in the Mystic Ruins. "Chaos. Earlier today we went to the Lost World and found out a lot of things about you." Bokkun said as he showed Chaos the photos. Chaos' eyes widened upon looking at them and he started to bubble up intensely. He then turned around and slashed at the rock behind him. The rock appeared to be fine until it separated into 3 clean cut sections. Yikes. He began making bubbling sounds again. I was getting a little worried. "Knuckles, what's he saying?" I asked. "He's mainly mumbling to himself." Knuckles said. "All I can make out is 'Drakon'." Drakon? What's that supposed to mean? Our thoughts were cut off by the sound of explosions in the city. "What the hell?!" Shouted Knuckles. "Is Eggman attacking the city?" Asked Bokkun. "Well who else would?" I replied. Chaos made more bubbling noises to Knuckles. "You want to help?" Knuckles asked. Chaos simply nodded. "Well then there's no time to waste! Let's go!" Commanded Knuckles. "You got it Boss." I replied as we made our way into the city. "Boss huh?" Knuckles said. Oh boy, here we go! "I could get used to this.". "Don't." I bluntly replied.
Knuckles POV:
We rushed toward the source of the explosion as fast as we could. We had to make sure nobody was hurt. Ah Hell, It was Honey's store that got blown up. We saw Honey, Mighty and Ray were in the middle of fighting some robots. Thank goodness they weren't hurt in the blast. "Mighty! Need any help?" I asked him. "I'd very much like some help!" Mighty replied, as he chucked a Mecha Knuckles in my direction. I wound up my fist in preparation and launched it forward, splitting the doppelganger in half. "How're you doing over there Honey?" Mighty yelled to her. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." Replied Honey who sounded a little bored, as she kicked a Silver Sonic's head clean off. "Come on! Metal Sonic was more of a challenge than these tin cans!" She shouted in frustration. Heh. Honey would find these cheap Sonic imitations boring wouldn't she? I mean, she beat the real Sonic in that tournament to go to space a few years back. Sonic was being a pretty sore loser, sneaking aboard the rocket anyways though. "How about you Ray?" Mighty asked, looking up in the sky. "Uh w-well I could very much use some help!" Ray pleaded, while dodging Buzz Bombers who were shooting at him. Thankfully Bokkun used his laser pistol to reduce the number of Buzz Bombers, making things a little easier for Ray. "Don't sweat it! I got your back!" Bokkun assured Ray, as he gave him a thumbs up and flew up to accompany him. Bokkun was doing great. Honey though seemed bored out of her mind at the moment. She was paying so little attention, she didn't notice that a Robo Sonic snuck up on her. "Honey! Behind you!" I shouted to alert her. Before she could turn around though, Rouge thankfully saved her by delivering her signature Drill Kick attack; which obliterated the Robo Sonic. "You can thank me later." Rouge said to Honey. "Hmm… nah." Replied Honey, sounding disinterested. Meanwhile, Bokkun and Ray just finished up with the last of the Buzz Bombers. "That seems to be all of them." Stated Mighty. Chaos then came up to me and told me he was trying to evacuate the city. "Ok, what else?" I asked. He continued talking, saying that all the exits were blocked off. "What?" I asked again. But before anyone could say anything else, we heard yet another explosion somewhere else in Station Square. "What now?!" Asked Rouge, sounding slightly annoyed. "I have a hunch that Eggman is right over there." I said a bit nervously.
Sonic POV:
"GET HIM MECHA SONIC!" Shouted Eggman as the doppelganger dashed right to me. Mecha Sonic threw a punch right at my face, but I easily ducked below it and swung my foot at his legs; which tripped him. Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed that Mecha Sonic hasn't gotten any better. Last time I saw him was in Sky Sanctuary back when I first met Knuckles. "Yo Egghead! Why ain't Metal Sonic here instead?" I asked in a teasing manner. "Because HE'S still going through some reprogramming since the World Grand Prix!" Eggman explained in frustration. "Rebellious little pest.". "But don't worry, Mecha Sonic has a trick or two up his sleeve. Hehehe!" Eggman laughed. Really? This I gotta see. Mecha Sonic's arm then flipped in on itself to reveal a Machine Gun. "Oh!" I shouted, pleasantly surprised. He quickly began firing at me and I quickly began running around. "Oh no! A gun! Whatever will I do? Hehe!" I taunted. I ran around a bit more. And after a while, I took the opportunity to line myself up with him. I then raised my speed up exponentially, and darted right at him. The bullets ended up bouncing right off me. I tackled him with my incredible speed into the side of a building. I proceeded to jump back to regain myself. Mecha looked as if he couldn't really fight anymore. Man, am I really THAT strong? Maybe I should start holding back to make things interesting. Anyways, Mecha couldn't go one so I decided to just finish it. I began spinning in place rapidly. Building up my momentum, I then slid my foot on the ground and kicked into the air right at him. "Sonic Wind!" I yelled as I launched a mini tornado at him. The wind then quickly carried him off the floor and shot him up to the sky 'til we couldn't see him anymore. So long. "Alright Eggman! Now that I've finished the appetizer, let's say we jump right to the main course?" I challenged him. "Oh, I agree with you Sonic. LET US JUMP TO THE MAIN EVENT!" Shouted Eggman as he pressed a button on his Egg-o'matic. Then suddenly flew down the Egg Emperor mech. Haven't seen him use that in a good while. Wait, wasn't it actually Metal Sonic who piloted it? Dang. "Yo, Fatty Lobotnik! Is this the first time you're actually using this?" I asked. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" Eggman shouted as he entered the mech. "Now I'll show you what REAL evil is!" Eggman said as the Egg Emperor powered up. "That's exactly what Metal said before I whooped his sorry behind." I warned him. "... I'm going to enjoy watching you die." Eggman gritted through his teeth. The Egg Emperor took it's Sword and swung it in my direction, which shot out a sword beam. Heh, this is already too easy. I simply jumped over it and it kept going past me. "You missed Eggman!" I taunted. I then heard multiple screams behind me. I looked back to see people running in terror from the fight and some building chunks fell down on them. Luckily no one was hurt. This place was too populated though, I had to take the fight somewhere else! "Hey Robuttnik! Catch me if you can!" I taunted, attempting to bait him out of the city. I ran to the edge of the city only to find many civilians being prevented from getting away by multiple E-2000s. Just great. "Get back here Sonic!" Shouted Eggman as he was coming towards me. He readied his shield to bash me with it. The people were even more scared. Dammit! I had to hold him off! No other options. I boosted right at him with as much strength as I could muster and pushed against his shield, breaking it. I luckily was able to knock him off balance. He tumbled down on top of some buildings. I just hoped they were vacated. Jeez that hurt a bit. "AHH! HELP ME!" Shouted an all too familiar voice. I really wished she wasn't here. I ran as fast as I could to save Amy from the falling debris, picking her up in my arms. "Thanks Sonic!" Said Amy. "Don't mention it." I replied. I stopped at a safe spot to put her down. "So, Knuckles destroyed the gift I was going to give you during his date with Rouge." Amy said. "Wait, Knuckles and Rouge are dating now?" I asked. "Well it's about time they got around to it!". "Did you not hear what I just told you though?" Amy asked in annoyance. "He destroyed my gift for you. Now I don't have anything to get you for your birthday.". "It's fine Amy!" I reassured her. "You don't have to get me anything. I mean, it's not like I plan on having a birthday party anyways.". I then happened to notice the Egg Emperor's sword lift up a bit and swung right at us. "Look out!" I warned as I pushed her out of the way. I then got hit by the sword and was launched right through a few walls. "SONIC!" Yelled Amy in horror. That really hurt! I was actually quite a bit dazed from that hit, and couldn't get up. Eggman then pointed his blade in my direction. "Well, well, well, look at that. I didn't lose this time." Eggman taunted me. "I really wished the teaching degree worked out for you." I said. "Same, but we can't have nice things, now can we? But I'm going to have something great right now!" Eggman replied, before he lunged the blade right at my head. "NOOOO!" Amy screamed.
Knuckles POV:
We made it to where we heard the fighting. I only hope that - Oh no. - Eggman has Sonic pinned! There's no way Eggman's actually won… right? It can't end like this! What do we do? What do we do? Damn it Knuckles, think! "Dad! The chaos emerald! Quickly!" Bokkun yelled with his hand out. Now I don't know why I trusted him to do what he did next. Maybe I was panicking and didn't know what to do. Maybe there was a part of me that believed he could pull off what he did next. I tossed Bokkun the emerald, and he caught it perfectly. Rouge and I watched in disbelief as Bokkun immediately started channeling the chaos energy into him. Blue energy began enveloping Bokkun. As he tossed the chaos emerald back to me, he burst forward into the air. I don't even think he used his jetpack for that. Pulling his leg back, Bokkun proceeded to swing his foot forward upon closing in on the Egg Emperor mech. A burst of chaos energy dispersed from Bokkun's foot as it made contact with the head of the mech, knocking it over in a powerful explosion. Eggman had fallen flat on his ass, and it was all by Bokkun's hand… er, foot. Eggman rolled out of the destroyed mech, coughing up smoke as exhaust poured out of the mech. Damn. Bokkun got him good. "There you are, you little shit!" Eggman yelled. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" Bokkun didn't say a word as he slowly descended to the ground. Seemed he was outta chaos energy. Eggman saw this as an opportunity to draw his laser pistol, but Bokkun shot it out of his hand almost instantly. Bokkun then pointed his laser pistol directly at the old man's head. Oh dear God, is he… is he gonna kill him? "Call them off." Bokkun demanded. "What?" Eggman said, more confused than terrified. "Call off your robots surrounding the city." Eggman wasn't sure what to do it seemed. Bokkun then shot near him as a warning shot. "Now!" He warned. "Fine! All units retreat!" Eggman ordered. All the E-2000s then flew away to parts unknown. "You'll regret this…" Eggman growled angrily as he entered his Egg-o'matic and flew away. Bokkun… just saved Sonic's life. He saved Station Square. I guess he was just sick of Eggman constantly making his life Hell. I mean, who could blame him. All I can really say is… I'm proud of him. When I looked at Bokkun there, I saw a kid I could be proud of. Someone I could say I'm… happy to call… my son. Yeah. "Rouge…" I said, nudging her to get her attention. "I think this is gonna work. I think we can be a family."
Eggman POV:
That little bastard of all people beat me!? This is absurd! "Orbot, Cubot, Respond! The mission was a failure." I reported. "You wasted some of our best resources on the Messenger robot of all things?" He asked. "SHUT IT!" I yelled at him. Oh, who was I kidding? He was right. This was a bit of a waste. "Don't worry. I can get some new parts from Weasley." I reassured him. "So can we have our old jobs back doctor?" Asked Decoe. "Hell no!" I replied. "What about us!" Scratch screeched. "Yeah! What about us, doctor Robotnik?" Grounder chimed in. "Quiet down! You all had your turn!" Orbot silenced them. I've made far too many metallic morons over the years. "So doctor, seeing as this plan to destroy Sonic was a bust, should we utilize that creature you discovered in space? The Time Eater I believe you called it?" That thing? The one my future self used to try and crush Sonic? Even with two of me, that plan didn't work in the slightest. Why in God's name would I repeat a failed plan? "Orbot..." I said firmly. "We are NOT using that thing. EVER.". "Then why did you bother putting it in a capsule?" Cubot asked. "Because leaving a time eating monster alone to its own devices in space would be irresponsible!" I corrected the little fool. "We aren't using that accursed thing, and that's final! I'll be home soon, so you better get that ham ready! I'm hungry! Goodbye!" I hung up the communication device after that. I know better than to repeat the mistakes of my future self. Wait… did I create a new timeline?
Bokkun POV:
I don't know why I suddenly did that. All that sudden bravery to face Dr. Eggman. It felt like something building up in me finally took hold. It felt good. I quickly turned to Sonic and helped him up. "Thanks for the save, Bokkun. Really." Sonic thanked me. Wow. Being thanked by Sonic the Hedgehog felt… really nice actually. It was as if we just buried the hatchet without having said it. "Sonic!" Yelled Amy as she ran up to Sonic and tackled him. "Are you alright?" She asked him. "Don't worry. I'll be good in no time." Sonic reassured her. "Well, I gotta run guys. See ya!" Sonic said as he ran off. As expected, Amy ran off after him. "Bokkun! We wanted to talk to you." Dad said as he and mom walked up to me. Dad then crouched down and put his hand on my shoulder. "You've made us very proud today with what you did." Dad said to me. I made him proud! Today couldn't have been any better. "And I've decided that yes… maybe we can be a family." He said with a smile on his face. "Are… are you for real?" I asked in disbelief. "Yes. So how about it son?" Dad asked. Tears began welling up in my face. This was the best day of my entire life. I had a family who cared for me, I defeated my former boss, and saved Sonic while doing it. I hugged dad out of sheer joy. I could feel him hug back. I could feel mom putting her arms around us and hugging too. This is all I've ever wanted. I finally have a home. I finally have family. I finally belong somewhere.